Cascavelle may cut
corners in some of its documentation
but there’s little faulting its industry
in seeking out rare gems from the French
and allied catalogues. This is just
such an example.

Maurice Hewitt’s is
a name that doubtless won’t ring many
bells. But the chamber orchestra he
founded and led was a distinguished
one. And even more distinguished was
his membership of the Capet String Quartet
in which he played second violin with
the exception of the war years, from
1909 until its demise on Capet’s death
in 1928. The recordings made by the
Capet, long famed for their austerity
in terms of vibrato and equally for
their powerful command, are the means
by which Hewitt has been best remembered.

These discs, however
tangentially, may redress the balance
of Hewitt’s career; he didn’t evaporate
in 1928 after all. In 1930 he went to
America where he taught in Cleveland
and returned to France four years later,
becoming a professor of violin at the
American Academy near Paris. He also
organised his own eponymous string quartet,
which flourished either side of the
War. His own Orchestra was founded in
1941 and the selections from Les
Indes Galantes were recorded the
following year and were released in
1943. This was the year he was arrested
for his resistance work and sent to
Buchenwald – he was involved in the
Buckmaster network, an SOE setup dedicated
to active resistance, propaganda and
escape routes. There’s a reproduction
of a handwritten programme of a concert
given in Buchenwald in 1944 by the Hewitt
Quartet on the back of the CD booklet.

Hewitt continued giving
concerts and recording. The set of the
Six Concerts en Sextuor in this Cascavelle
restoration followed in 1952. He then
resigned his professorial work in 1955
on reaching the age of seventy and died
at a ripe age in 1971.

Rather dryly recorded
for Les Discophiles Français
in 1952 – it was actually DF1 – the
Hewitt Rameau performances are rather
reminiscent of Boyd Neel’s pioneering
sets of baroque music in their sweep
though not necessarily in detail. Hewitt
encourages broad and romantic phrasing
as one would expect of the time, and
though precision is occasionally lost
the effect is full of drama and affection.
Rallentandi are frequent – there’s a
powerful one in the First Concerto’s
opening – and slow movements are full
of poignant depth. Basses are heavily
weighted and make telling contributions.
The violins are an occasionally idiosyncratic
bunch and one can hear disparate bowing
practices and vibrato in the lack of
uniformity at times in the Second Concerto
and elsewhere.

The romantic phrasing
of La Boucon, the second movement
of the Second Concerto, is a tribute
to Hewitt’s control of texture, nuance
and line – I happen to love it; you
may not – and it’s in these moments
that we hear how refined his ear was.
Grandness and impishness, conveyed through
telling rubati, inform the Third Concerto
but Hewitt takes care not to overdo
La Poule from the Sixth. Vigorous
and enthusiastic, long on sympathy and
romantic trajectory, these performances
are an index of Hewitt’s affectionate
identification with Rameau’s scores.

A decade earlier and
deep in wartime he made an album of
music from Les Indes Galantes. The
string playing is full of old school
rhythms and sonorous weight. Voicings
are warm and saturated. The playing
takes on a commensurate muscularity
in the romantic traceries of the Air
pour les Persans. The choir tends
to be a touch on the big side but tonally
it’s well centred and blended. And the
three singers make small but valuable
contributions. Irène Joachim
is probably the best remembered – a
fine and strong Gallic voice - though
plangent Camille Maurane has a bigger
sing. The trio is a highpoint of the
performance with Raymond Malvasio proving
an adept partner. Vigorous and lusty,
with splendidly rustic winds, and a
noble Chaconne finale this makes for
invigorating listening.

The transfers are perfectly
serviceable. There’s audible shellac
noise in the 1942 sides but the ear
soon adjusts. Perhaps greater restoration
work would have clarified the sound
further but I can’t imagine real disappointment.
I hope this two-disc set doesn’t get
overlooked in the welter of reissues;
Hewitt was a talented and dedicated
musician and this release does his memory
honourable service.

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